


Unfortunate Parentage

by DuCali



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Not a Severitis, Snape is not Harry’s father, just to be clear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-23 18:25:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16624130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuCali/pseuds/DuCali
Summary: SI OC- a few months before her marriage, Lily Evans had one last fling. Deciding it was a mistake, she memory charms him and 6months after her marriage to James she gives up the resulting child without much deliberation.The child was odd. She remembers a life that wasn’t her own, and can’t decide if that was real, or this new life a story.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’m floating the premise here. I’m trying to write more. Let me know if this is something you want to read!

Rebirth is in itself rather disorienting. It takes years before you can hold onto thoughts really, and you don’t remember your previous life right away. It’s more like a gut feeling from the onset. Things filter through. It’s like waking up while walking, or rather standing in the middle room and being aware of something that’s always been there. Not all at once, and awareness doesn’t mean understanding.

 

Sometimes that comes in a dream- mostly actually. And you just wake up knowing. You know?

 

I was 2 and a half years the first time someone called me Ms. Snape and it actually stuck. It was an ‘Oh Snap’ moment that was half incredulous (I thought they’d named me that on purpose). I was fostered with a lovely elderly couple that we just called Gran and Pa. They both had silver hair and an unfortunate love of doilies. Their house smelled like sunshine and Russian spice cookies, and occasionally mud and wet, with the weather there. 

I never really went without- though there were between one other child and 5 at one memorable time. I was the only one that never left.

Later on, they told me it was because they couldn’t find where my father was buried and couldn’t prove he was dead, despite what my mother had mentioned in her letter.

 

The letter was a doosie too. Guess who my mother was? (I mean, you got that my dad was Severus Snape yeah? I wasn’t being subtle there. It was totally Snape. )

 

Lily Potter nee Evans.

.

.

.

 

Yeah.

 

My name is Acantha Eilleen Snape, and I was born the 10th of April, 1978. I showed up in a police station with a birth certificate that mentioned people who didn’t exist, and a letter from my mother that explained that it was really for my own good that she was giving me up, that totally made her sound like a crazy crack addict. I had hair like fire, and bright green eyes, and I shouldn’t exist.

 

This is my Story.


	2. It’s a Girl! Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus POV

Chapter 2: Surprise! It’s a girl.

POV: Severus Snape

April 27th 1988 - Hogwarts

Minerva had been disapproving and pinched since the letter had come. The rest of the staff had devolved into gossip-mongering twits at the news, all of them either wondering aloud or in pointed silence, sending half amused looks to each other.

 

It was appalling for all that every comment and look built upon the ghastly heartburn building in his throat, and the tension headache sprouting behind his eyes.

 

It couldn’t be true.

 

While not exactly…inactive, Severus Snape had had few lovers over the years, none lasting long. And he always, --Always checked up on them afterwards to make sure that there were no… lapses. None of them had been muggles in the time frame that this child was purported to have been conceived. He’d been busy with … other things at the time.

 

It could not be true.

 

And that fact was the only thing that let him choke down his toast that morning despite the terrible, no-good twinkling blue eyes on his left that just chipped away at his patience.

 

The girl—supposedly Acantha Snape – had turned 11 just a few days ago, and received the automatically generated acceptance letter. She had not received the muggleborn introductory pamphlet that was spelled for first generation magic-users. Proof that at least one of her parents had been magical whoever they were (certainly not him-!). She’d written a reply on semi-decent muggle stationary requesting clarification and some sort of proof; if they could provide proof she had written, then a request for direction on the supply list had been requested as well, “If they wouldn’t mind terribly”. The whole thing had been a subtle barb at the school’s general incompetence if real, and generally disdainful overall, covered thinly with polite disbelief. Sinistra had been chortling about it with Hooch for the last two days.

Were it not for her last name, he would have found it amusing. As it was, it seemed a great prank at his expense.

Today, Minerva would be going to meet her during a morning free period. He was determined that it would not be without him. It was time to put this farce to rest. As she rose from the breakfast table, he joined her on her way out the hall.

 

She looked at him from the corner of her eye as they walked to the front gate. He studiously ignored her.

 

“Don’t you have a class, Severus?”

“Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw 5th years. I gave them a guided study period.”

“Gracious of you.” Her lip curled into a reluctant half-smile. Mirth seemed to overcome her apparent disappointment.

“Oh shut up. She’s not mine.” Only got him a sardonic raised eyebrow in response.

Maybe his father had had another son that carried the name—though Severus doubted it- not because he thought Tobias had loved his mother enough to keep from straying, but he doubted anyone else would have wanted him.

“Well—“she said, as the Knight bus exploded into the front drive; “Let’s find out once and for all, hmm?”


	3. Surprise! It’s a girl. Part 2: the Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Acantha meets the Proffs.

Chapter 3: Surprise! It’s a girl. Part 2: the Confrontation

POV: Minerva McGonagall

April 27th 1988 – Somewhere in Cardiff.

 

Severus looked more than a bit peaky by the time the Knight bus dropped them off. He slanted a narrow eyed glare at her as he breathed evenly and stood straighter than normal. It looked somehow abnormal in the rare spring sunshine that filtered down on the quaint muggle homes that lined the street. He hadn’t said a word or looked at her since she’d made the mistake of musing out loud about what the child would look like. A step too far for the prideful man; she supposed. A man she couldn’t help but remember as a young boy, when he sulked so dramatically like he was now.

 

Canting a look at him she noticed his eyes had fixated on the front garden. Taking a look herself she noticed quite a few herbs among the more ornamental flowers. The overall look was quite pleasing and subtly practical, which appealed to her aesthetic. The Lavender roses that climbed both sides of the front terrace overhanging the door were quite pleasing as well. One of the members of the house was quite skilled at herbology.

 

Severus stalked forward towards the door like an avenging bat; his muggle surcoat flapping behind him unnecessarily dramatically- and pulled the bell.

 

“…Just a second!” came a young voice from inside. Followed by running footsteps. She watched Severus recoil a bit in surprise at the volume and hid a smile. The door opened to a brown haired young girl with messy curls and wide eyes. She looked nothing like Severus at all. Disappointment warred with acceptance. The chance was small, after all that they were related.

 

Severus was a silent Sentinel (and was hardly blinking), so she spoke first. “Ms. Snape, I presume?”

The child blinked and shook her head quickly, blinking her brown eyes at them in curiosity. She turned her head back into the house and bellowed “ISLA! It’s for YooOOUUUU!!”

“Coming!” came a voice from the back of the house. It was at a considerably more tolerable volume.

“You those folks from the fancy school, that invited Isla, then?” the brunette inquired, looking between her and Severus.

“Indeed.” Came from Severus like a scorching brand. The girl’s face lit up at the vitriol. She looked positively delighted, actually—which was rather, well; to each their own. On second glance the girl was a bit older than a first year. Not older than 13 though, and Minerva decided she didn’t really care, though she might take note of Severus’ muggle admirer to mention to Rolanda.

The girl was practically beaming at poor Severus, to his startled surprise, and opened her mouth, only for a hand to grasp the door from the other side near the girl’s elbow.

The door pulled inward, and Minerva was suddenly looking at a ghost.

Lily Evans stood at the door, looking almost exactly as she had when Minerva had first come to prove magic existed, as if none of the years in between had happened. Her heart pounded in her chest. She heard a soft pained sound beside her and her eyes darted to Severus, whose face was slack with surprise as he looked at the girl, and Minerva’s heart gave a lurch in sympathy.

“I was half sure you wouldn’t show professor.” She said, opening the door wider; and the spell was broken. But of course this wasn’t little Lily Evans- she was dead and gone. This girl- Acantha Snape—had a voice that was pleasant, but lower than Minerva had expected, though still youthful, and smooth. Rather like Severus’ voice, come to think of it...

And not to disparage her co-worker, but Minerva could well believe that Severus had fell into the bed of a Lily look-a-like. His schooldays crush had been rather…unsubtle. At least to his teachers. And the Gryffindors…well. Pretty much everyone but the crowd that became the enemy in the last war really, and that was likely willful denial more than anything. The point is that everyone had known.

And looking back at the girl looking at her, some of the features were not quite the same. Maybe around her mouth, or her jaw. The shape of her eyes perhaps. It had been a long few years since she’d last laid eyes on either potter.

 

“Welcome in, then. Can I take your coat?”

Minerva smiled at the polite manners and handed over her coat.

The brunette slipped out the door and half way down the street, without a word.

Severus did the same, having moved on from shock to a rather disconcerting rapt attention. She put a hand on his arm, and his attention snapped to her face. Whatever he saw there made him draw a deep breath and let the emotionless mask of occlumency flow over his features. He was usually better at hiding it, but – well.

 

Minerva didn’t blame him.

 

Stealing her nerves, she followed the young girl through the entryway into a dreary parlor, absolutely covered in knit lace. It was…everywhere. Sorry to say it threw her a bit, and she’d seen plenty of muggle sitting rooms in her work as the deputy headmistress. It was on the lounge, layered on the coffee table, and notably even on top of the old cuckoo clock in one corner. It smelled like ginger and goulash, and some sort of burning incense that she couldn’t name. Overall a pleasant atmosphere. It almost let her ignore the overabundance of lace.

 

Two muggles flanked Ms. Snape as she sat. They were elderly but seemed to bracket the young girl like overprotective book-ends. Neither introduced themselves.

Rallying her courage, Minerva spoke carefully. “Are these your guardians? It is expressly against the law to involve others than your immediate family.”

“They have raised me as long as I can remember.” She responded, looking a little defensive. “They would adopt me but we can’t prove that my father is dead. If he is one of your lot, that might be helpful if he’s buried in a place we couldn’t normally access.” The Muggle man put a hand on her shoulder and she calmed visibly, putting her hand over his.

 

“Do you know his name, per chance? I could make a few inquiries.” She asked, mildly curious, but mostly resigned.

 

“Severus Snape.”

Severus drew in a breath. “How sure are you? Your mother could have lied.” He said, which Minerva thought was rather grasping at straws. As soon as the child was observed she began to believe. Even if she didn’t look terribly like Severus, she did look like the girl he had loved, and that made it a different quaffle game.

 

Looking a little insulted, Acantha Replied, “It’s the name on my birth certificate, … and in the letter my mother left with me when she abandoned me. She didn’t make an attempt at hiding that she was abandoning me because her husband didn’t like the thought of me, or that she had a husband she was planning on ignoring me for, or even that my Sperm donor was involved in some sort of terrorist cult, so I don’t see why she’d lie about his name.”

 

Her voice was more than a little wry.

Severus had gone very still. Minerva side-eyed him. “And your mother? What was her name?”

 

“Lily Potter”, the girl squinted her eyes at Minerva and asked “Why is any of this relevant? They’re dead. My father died before I was born, and my Mother died in a fire when I was a toddler. I fail to see why two professors at a school would care so much about them.”

 

“Why” drawled Severus, “Do you believe your father is dead?”

 

“You know him. Is he alive then?” what a clever girl! Minerva felt a little detached from the situation, as if at a tennis match as they began to run the conversation back and forth at a rapid pace.

“I know that he became a spy for the light in the previous war against the Dark lord, when he found that your mother and her family was being targeted.”

“How romantic. However, I find that hard to believe. My mother specifically stated in her letter that my father wasn’t likely to remember my conception. What reason would he have to care?”

“They were childhood friends.”

“You said Family—not just her husband?” Acantha asked, her brow furrowed.

“Yes. They had a son, born in 1980 at the end of July.”

“I had a brother?”

“If you are not completely deluded or a clever plot, you have a brother.” Was Severus’ firm rebuttal.

Acantha just blinked, seemingly taken aback.

“He is also the most famous wizard of the last 40 or so years, which makes your story rather suspect.”

“Why would I lie?”

“Perhaps you are an attention seeking brat, or you want access to the potter fortune,” He doled out in a monotone. “Perhaps you want access to him so that you can kill him, or you are being used as a puppet for someone else to do so.”

 

“Cheery,” The young girl said flatly. “Really sounds like the sort of society I want to live in. Great. I honestly can’t wait,”

“I am not saying this because I think you are false. I am simply explaining what might be said about you. The public is notoriously over-privileged with their own idea of their celebrities.”

“You don’t seem like the trusting type.” She opined. “Where is this faith coming from? Why are you giving me the benefit of the doubt?”

“I’m not.” Severus breathed, seemingly tired all of a sudden as he leant back in the armchair he was sitting in, “I’ve been skimming your surface thoughts since we sat down.”

The girl’s eyes widened. “You can read minds?!” The Muggle woman scooted closer to the girl, glaring at Severus. He completely ignored her to look directly at his daughter. Minerva usually would have been appalled at his lack of moral propriety, but considering the context of the situation, withheld her tongue.

“Surface thoughts only. And it is not so much reading as if a book, as you are thinking. I shall teach it to you, and the defense against it.”

 

“Is that what you teach at this magic school? How to Skim minds?”

“No. I teach potions.” Severus replied, almost smiling. “You know why I am offering. You’ve been wondering if it were true since we sat down.”

Everyone sat in silence for a beat. The adults measured each other. Severus continued to stare at his red haired daughter with surety in his expression.

 

Acantha squirmed in her seat a bit, before looking up at Severus. “If you and my mother were childhood friends, why wouldn’t you remember? Are you an alcoholic?”

 

The muggle woman gasped as her husband put his hand back on the young girl’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze, before cutting a sharp glance at Severus. “You’re…?”

 

“Severus Tobias Snape. Potions master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Former spy; and not an alcoholic; though I suppose I will reduce the amount I drink regardless in light of current events.”

 

Minerva wasn’t quite sure why he looked so happy. He was almost smiling, like a cat that caught the canary.

“Your Mother is the love of my life. We grew up on the same street, and I would never forget her.” His face went weary. “There are magics, either of concealment or that deal in the suppression or removal of memories that your mother must have used.” Minerva blinked in shock at his forthrightness. Did he truly love her? After all this time?

He looked up briefly to take in the muggles.

“Regardless of how well they have cared for you all these years, if I had an inkling of the chance of you existing I would not have left you here. I remember no such corresponding events—indeed I can scarcely believe there was time for your conception to have happened with how busy I was in July of ‘76. A Memory charm is most likely.”

The young girl was looking down at her fingers, twisting a ring off and on, restless.

“Potions isn’t something that’s really obviously magical though, or can you think of something?” she asked, with a quick glance upwards.

Severus actually smiled. (!) His eyes even softened. “None that are legal to administer, nor that you would feel comfortable taking.” He conceded. “My companion is a teacher of Transfiguration, the art of turning something into something else, which would be rather more obvious.”

Minerva smiled like the cat she is. A quick transfiguration of the coffee table turned into a pig and back was classic, and the teacup that had toppled over the edge was easily repaired with magic. After a quick word, Minerva also repaired a platter that was in a box that the muggle woman had been hoping to repair herself.

After a few more questions and a quick conservation of particulars and plans were made for Severus to rejoin the muggles and his daughter that weekend.

“I will need to ready a place for you, and brew a potion that will stand in an official capacity as a DNA test. “ Severus placed his arm on her shoulder opposite the elderly muggle that still offered her comfort. It was the first time he had touched his daughter. Something like sorrow was on the muggle’s face as he looked at Severus.

“You love her. I wouldn’t keep her from visiting.” The man looked down.

“That can be quite annoying.”

“Quite.”

 

A few more pleasantries, and they were both outside. Looking both ways for looky-loos, she noted a particularly likely apparition point between two of the houses. She looked at Severus as they moved together towards it. “I must say Severus,” she said before he could dissaparate “I did not expect her to actually be your daughter, or that you’d take it so well.”

Severus started to Laugh. “I had an intelligent daughter with the love of my life. My memories were stolen, and yet despite the dire straits brought about by my own idiocy, she came to be. She is proof—proof that Lily once gave me the time of day—perhaps had doubts; before she married potter.” He closed his eyes with a huff. “How can I be angry?” his voice turned melancholy. “I cannot even blame her for pretending I was already dead, to save our daughter some pain.”

Minerva didn’t know what to say.

“I have some Knapougue Whiskey, if you care for a glass or five.” She said instead of something meaningful.

“Merlin, yes.” He replied with feeling. She smiled and Dissapparated.


	4. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus has a hangover but life is good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Severus thinks through some things. Rather like me with the new Crimes of Grindlewald movie last Thursday. Have you seen it yet? I’ve gone twice. And I bought a copy of the script. It’s crazy.

Chapter 4: The Morning After

POV: Severus Snape

April 28th 1988 – Hogwarts Castle

Severus Snape glared in the general direction of his plate that morning, to keep himself from glaring at his smug coworker, or Merlin forbid- a poor Hufflepuff that might take it personally.

If he made another one cry, Pamona might skin him.

 

Also, Hufflepuffs were surprisingly vicious in their retribution. A comment that might lead to the passive aggressive social avoidance of half the house in Slytherin might lead to finding yourself swinging upside down from a tree in the forbidden forest slathered in erumpet musk, or something similarly nasty if the same was dealt upon a Hufflepuff.

 

There was an interesting staff conversation last year started by Fillius that posited that a full half of non-sentient or slave class wizard hybrids might result from such shenanigans. It was rather alarming to think about, and only ended when Hooch and Sinestra started campaigning for a higher percentage based on inebriation, dares, and bets and Fillius took offence on behalf of his mother, who apparently only took his father on account of his fighting prowess.

 

The absolute Worst part of that conversation, nay; the most terrifying: Pamona had not said a word during the whole debate, simply smirked into her tea cup. Severus was pretty sure she’d been drinking a hot toddy. He was always sullen when he was caught drinking, because he KNEW she did it all the time. He knew better than to call her out on it though. There was something about being peers with one’s own teachers that made one feel alarmingly like a school boy, no matter how old one got.

 

Severus rather thought he’d feel the same into his 80’s for as long as it took to get someone younger on staff.

 

He would have to start brewing the Drew-Lineage potion in less than an hour if he wanted it on hand for the trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow. Though—it might be best to do the test here at Hogwarts under the purview of the Headmaster in his capability as a member of the ICW. Severus’ impartiality might be—questioned.

The test would take but a few minutes. If it was positive, (which at this point seemed likely) they could proceed to the bank and Severus would name her his heir.

He mused that it was good that he had a child. He was unlikely to have another, not with his predilection to dote on the memory of a woman long dead. Severus did not believe he could truly be committed in a relationship with anyone else… not romantically at least. He had a responsibility to his daughter, of course.

Something dark and possessive and a bit terrifying seemed to linger behind his ribs whenever he thought of having a daughter. A daughter by the woman he loved. Stolen from him for a time perhaps—for her own good (Severus was intimately aware of himself as an Occlumens. He had not been ready or able when his daughter had been born). And there was some anger there, but mostly understanding. A lot of sorrow. How things might have been different if Lily could have believed or known he would change.

His daughter was proof that there had been something there still—in the midst of all that war and their misunderstanding, and the petty rivalry with Potter --petty now rather than devastating perhaps because he had won this one battle between them, where he had not won anything before. To know that he had had Lily’s affections and planted a seed in her womb before Potter. That he had had to live with it for months while Severus’ child grew within her.

Minerva did not understand why Severus was not mad at Lily for keeping Acantha away from him. This triumph against Potter and his knowledge at his own inadequacies and ignorance in childrearing were truths that Severus would likely never verbalize. They were both things that Lily had taken into consideration. Severus could trust that. If Lily had lived past the dark lord’s downfall, it might be a different world; but knowing that he had this connection to the woman he loved made all the difference.

It felt a little like the rug had been pulled out from under his feet, if that rug were the woven and kept anger and spite of a decade’s considerable angsting.

 

Severus had been working off of a false premise. It was time to adjust.

 

Still. The world felt a bit off as Severus rose to his feet at the end of Breakfast, floating down to the dungeons and methodically categorizing the ingredients he’d need for the Drew- Lineage Brew. He passed through his quarters to his adjacent master’s brewery. He paused only a fraction of a second as his eyes caught the new door off of his sitting quarters. It was Acantha’s room. The Elf that had summoned it made it sound like the door had been there all along, and Severus just hadn’t had access to its existence.

 

In the Brewery, Severus took quick stock of what was brewing to make sure there would be no cross-contamination.

The alcohol on his left was already isolated and ventilated (a General taste sampler that included Tequila, a micro brew stout and a whiskey he was using magic to speed up the aging process on-- he was giving small bottles to everyone on the staff this Christmas). He further set up isolating wards to cover the burn cure, Acne clearant, and the quarterly supply of prophylactic serum.

 

The ‘Drew Brew’ as a Lineage potion invented by a Charles Drew in the early 1900’s was easy enough to make. It required the genetic information of at least two members of a family, and using that, as well as some neutral and common ingredients, filled in all living members- as well as one generation in each direction that was deceased. It took as many hours to make as the number of years that the two people using the potion had been related. So- 11 hours. However, once the ingredients were entered, it was more like a muggle slow-cooker. The resultant mixture was an ink so black that it made things look 2 dimensional. Blood was added to the completed potion and set in a steady drip titrate apparatus over a large cotton paper. If blood wasn’t added, it made an interesting art medium.

 

Severus still had some of the specialty paper from the last ‘muggleborn’ he had tested for Travers. He ordered the stuff so often that Severus felt no compunction in allocating it for his own needs.

 

He tied his hair at the back of his neck and got to work.


End file.
